![](http://hnet2050.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/cop28.png)
‘기후쇼는 강화, 대처는 미적’
유엔 기후총회(COP28) 앞두고 우려, 석유기업 CEO가 회의 의장 아이러니
“사상 최대의 기후 쇼가 준비되고 있다.”
이번 회의에도 두바이 국영 석유회사의 CEO인 술탄 알 자베르가 의장을 맡아 주도적 역할을 하고 있어 퇴출 돼야 할 기업가가 퇴출 문제를 논의하는 어이없는 상황이 벌어지고 있다. 뿐만 아니라 여러 컨설팅 그룹과 로비스트들이 대거 참여해 각국 정상들의 합의 시도를 무산시키려 할 것으로 예상되고 있다.
정필립(토론토 생태희망연대)
Concerns mount ahead of UN climate talks (COP28)
Oil company CEO chairs conference irony
“The biggest climate show in history is getting ready to happen.”
Ahead of the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), which will take place in Dubai, UAE, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, climate advocates are turning a cynical eye. At COP21 in Paris in 2015, participants agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2050, and to keep the average global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees, no matter how high. To achieve this goal, by 2030, we must emit less than half the carbon we did in 2015. That’s just seven years away.
To achieve this goal, countries around the world, especially responsible industrialized nations and emerging industrialized nations like China and India, have set their own targets and submitted them to the United Nations, but the actual results have been disappointing. Carbon emissions have not decreased since 2015, but are actually increasing.
Furthermore, last year’s COP27 failed to reach an agreement on fossil fuel phase-out targets, so “climate villain” countries like South Korea are still investing in coal-fired power plants and trying to build them in other countries. Ontario is also building more natural gas plants or increasing its use.
A record 70,000 delegates are expected to descend on Dubai, a city of 3.5 million people. This includes heads of state and government from more than 200 countries, politicians, business leaders, journalists, lobbyists, NGO representatives, and climate and environmental organizations and activists. Climate activists, in particular, are expected to continue to protest and press for stronger carbon neutrality plans.
Last year, about 50,000 people attended COP27 in Egypt and 30,000 people attended COP26 in Glasgow. As the climate crisis grows more severe and the damage snowballs, countries are failing to honor their commitments from previous conferences to protect their interests, and there is no way to regulate it.
In particular, the conference has been criticized for not producing any tangible results and for being a big talk without any enforcement of the plans presented by the countries. Developed countries have pledged to raise funds to pay for the damage their carbon emissions are causing in the third world, but even this is not being fulfilled.
It’s ironic that the premier international conference to address the climate crisis is being held in the deserts of the UAE, one of the biggest carbon emitters. It has been widely criticized that hosting an international conference on the climate crisis while oil-producing countries have no immediate plans to stop production, no plans to stop production, and no plans for dramatic cuts, and are still committed to the black money game of emitting carbon for maximum profit, is classic greenwashing: pretending to care about the environment to deflect blame, but not actually doing anything about it.
The conference is being chaired by Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of Dubai’s national oil company, who is playing a leading role, creating the absurd situation of an entrepreneur who should be out of business discussing out-of-business issues. In addition, a number of consulting groups and lobbyists are expected to be on hand to scuttle any attempts at consensus by the heads of state.
In any case, the two-week conference has three main goals.
The first is to take stock of carbon stocks. This will be the first midterm check on the extent to which countries have met their emissions reduction targets promised in the Paris Agreement. Of course, in terms of overall growth, countries will be mostly report carded for growth, not reductions.
Next, the details of the so-called “Third World Loss and Damage Fund” that countries agreed to create last year will need to be discussed and agreed upon. The details of who will pay into the fund and how much, and who will benefit from it, will need to be worked out.
Finally, there needs to be a political agreement that can emerge from the summit. Countries will agree to reduce or stop using polluting fossil fuels and replace them with clean energy, such as wind and solar power, and will try to agree on a timeline for phasing out fossil fuels.
By Philip Jung (HNET) (AI translated)